WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

I watched about half of each game, mostly the 1st half of the Wheaton broadcast and more of the Carthage 2nd half / OT.
I agree fully with every word of GoPerry's summary of the North Park win.
In Kenosha, Carroll was without Coach Schultz (Karsyn Rueth served as head coach) and again was missing Rangel and Rohner.
Carthage was without Knight, Coshun and Herrmann.
Carthage controlled the tempo, but the absence of the aforementioned trio hurt their offense.
The game featured 31 made FGs, 49 turnovers and 22 missed free throws. Anybody who saw that in person had to rinse their eyes for 10 minutes afterwards.
Carroll did just enough to escape with a victory.

[Gregory Sager]

At King Arena, North Park over Wheaton by a final of 82-71 but it was never really that close.  Wheaton was done in by a terrible second quarter where they got outscored 31-8 with really atrocious defense.  The halftime score was 51-24.   

The Lady Vikes are a good team and came ready to play and compete.  They really took it to Wheaton.  The Thunder finally started to play with some urgency in the second half, defensively and offensively.  One bright spot was Annika Richardson with her second straight good performance finishing with 33 pts to lead all scorers.

Jayla Johnson had 24 before fouling out late.  Emily Czuhajewski was inexplicably left open constantly and she proceeded to bury six or seven wide open treys in the first half and ended up with 23 pts.  Esther Miller had 20.

Emily Czuhajewski's seven treys tonight is a career high, and it's tied for the second-highest single-game total in NPU program history with Hannah Rehfeldt's seven against North Central back in February 2016. Oddly enough, Czuhajewski ended the game tied with Rehfeldt in career treys with 111, which puts Emily in a tie for fifth in career treys at North Park.

Esther Miller's 20 points is a career high for her. Her four steals ties her with Jayla Johnson for the league lead with 34 steals and a 3.1 steals per game average.

It's weird to win a game handily when you get outrebounded by 21 the way that NPU was tonight. But the turnover situation seems to have compensated for that somewhat, as Wheaton coughed it up 21 times to NPU's five.

Now comes the marquee matchup: Millikin vs. North Park at 2 pm Saturday. I'm really looking forward to calling that one.

[RogK]

still early conference standings :
MIL 4-0
IWU 3-0
NPU 2-1
CTG 3-2
CRL and WHE 2-3
NCC 1-2
AUG 0-2
ELM 0-4

[Gregory Sager]

In Kenosha, Carroll was without Coach Schultz (Karsyn Rueth served as head coach) and again was missing Rangel and Rohner.
Carthage was without Knight, Coshun and Herrmann.
Carthage controlled the tempo, but the absence of the aforementioned trio hurt their offense.
The game featured 31 made FGs, 49 turnovers and 22 missed free throws. Anybody who saw that in person had to rinse their eyes for 10 minutes afterwards.
Carroll did just enough to escape with a victory.

I caught that CU @ CC overtime up in my broadcaster's perch, and it certainly was not pretty to watch. The Pioneers and Firebirds made enough turnovers to open their own bakery. I kept thinking, "Doesn't either team want to win this game?"

Looking at who was missing in that game, it strikes me that this season really might come down to which team can do the best job of evading Covid.

[GoPerry]

At King Arena, North Park over Wheaton by a final of 82-71 but it was never really that close.  Wheaton was done in by a terrible second quarter where they got outscored 31-8 with really atrocious defense.  The halftime score was 51-24.   

The Lady Vikes are a good team and came ready to play and compete.  They really took it to Wheaton.  The Thunder finally started to play with some urgency in the second half, defensively and offensively.  One bright spot was Annika Richardson with her second straight good performance finishing with 33 pts to lead all scorers.

Jayla Johnson had 24 before fouling out late.  Emily Czuhajewski was inexplicably left open constantly and she proceeded to bury six or seven wide open treys in the first half and ended up with 23 pts.  Esther Miller had 20.

Emily Czuhajewski's seven treys tonight is a career high, and it's tied for the second-highest single-game total in NPU program history with Hannah Rehfeldt's seven against North Central back in February 2016. Oddly enough, Czuhajewski ended the game tied with Rehfeldt in career treys with 111, which puts Emily in a tie for fifth in career treys at North Park.

Esther Miller's 20 points is a career high for her. Her four steals ties her with Jayla Johnson for the league lead with 34 steals and a 3.1 steals per game average.

It's weird to win a game handily when you get outrebounded by 21 the way that NPU was tonight. But the turnover situation seems to have compensated for that somewhat, as Wheaton coughed it up 21 times to NPU's five.

Now comes the marquee matchup: Millikin vs. North Park at 2 pm Saturday. I'm really looking forward to calling that one.

Park happens to be among the national leaders in turnover margin and this game will only bolster that.  As I've already noted, Wheaton continues to turn the ball over way too much to win.  They're basically negating one of their team strengths which is rebounding.

Losing to the Vikings is not surprising per se.  But the way they are losing is concerning.  Without Tate, the Thunder have few other significant offensive options.  Ok fine.  But they have good enough players to play solid team defense and that's not happening.  Giving up 51 pts in a half?

Kent Madsen and team have a week to prep for Millikin, a team with lots of offense.

[RogK]

To refresh my memory, I checked the two times Millikin and Wheaton played last season, both in late January :
http://stats.ncaa.org/contests/1998188/box_score
and
http://stats.ncaa.org/contests/1998176/box_score
Millikin scored 83 and 85, while Wheaton had 90 and 60.
48 of Wheaton's 150 pts came from Hannah Williams, who of course has graduated.

[lmitzel]

Aaaaaand now NCC's games against Elmhurst on Saturday as well as against Carroll on Wednesday are postponed.

[Gregory Sager]

At King Arena, North Park over Wheaton by a final of 82-71 but it was never really that close.  Wheaton was done in by a terrible second quarter where they got outscored 31-8 with really atrocious defense.  The halftime score was 51-24.   

The Lady Vikes are a good team and came ready to play and compete.  They really took it to Wheaton.  The Thunder finally started to play with some urgency in the second half, defensively and offensively.  One bright spot was Annika Richardson with her second straight good performance finishing with 33 pts to lead all scorers.

Jayla Johnson had 24 before fouling out late.  Emily Czuhajewski was inexplicably left open constantly and she proceeded to bury six or seven wide open treys in the first half and ended up with 23 pts.  Esther Miller had 20.

Emily Czuhajewski's seven treys tonight is a career high, and it's tied for the second-highest single-game total in NPU program history with Hannah Rehfeldt's seven against North Central back in February 2016. Oddly enough, Czuhajewski ended the game tied with Rehfeldt in career treys with 111, which puts Emily in a tie for fifth in career treys at North Park.

Esther Miller's 20 points is a career high for her. Her four steals ties her with Jayla Johnson for the league lead with 34 steals and a 3.1 steals per game average.

It's weird to win a game handily when you get outrebounded by 21 the way that NPU was tonight. But the turnover situation seems to have compensated for that somewhat, as Wheaton coughed it up 21 times to NPU's five.

Now comes the marquee matchup: Millikin vs. North Park at 2 pm Saturday. I'm really looking forward to calling that one.

Park happens to be among the national leaders in turnover margin and this game will only bolster that.

The Vikings are currently 8th in D3 in turnover margin, 20th in steals per game, 14th in fewest turnovers per game, and 14th in assist:turnover ratio. That kind of ball control can do wonders for a smallish team that doesn't rebound well.

As I've already noted, Wheaton continues to turn the ball over way too much to win.  They're basically negating one of their team strengths which is rebounding.

Yes, Wheaton is sort of the mirror image of North Park. The issue comes down to shooting; a good ball-control team will beat a good rebounding team when the ball-control team shoots well, as NPU did last night, because you can't get defensive rebounds when the other team is making their shots ... and your advantage on the offensive glass will be negated by your comparative inability to value the ball and keep from turning it over before you even get a chance to miss a shot.

Losing to the Vikings is not surprising per se.  But the way they are losing is concerning.  Without Tate, the Thunder have few other significant offensive options.  Ok fine.

I don't know about that. After watching the game this afternoon, I was enormously impressed by Annika Richardson's performance. She is a very versatile offensive player who can finish with either hand down low and has nice touch on her jumpers all the way out to beyond the arc, and her 6-for-7 tally at the line last night indicated that there's nothing wrong with her form there, just a previous lack of consistent opportunities. I'm not saying that she's going to outperform what Tate would've brought to the table on a night-in, night-out basis, but she's the kind of fill-in that Wheaton is lucky to have. Wheaton fans are going to enjoy having Richardson around for the next 3 1/2 years.

Ellie Cassel is a big who can score down low and who runs the floor well and can get out in transition. Hannah Swider is a pretty decent offensive option. Wheaton doesn't really have a breakout perimeter player who can either create offense off the dribble or knock down treys with impugnity, but Kent Madsen's cupboard certainly isn't bare in terms of offense.

But they have good enough players to play solid team defense and that's not happening.  Giving up 51 pts in a half?

It wasn't a good half for Wheaton's defense, that's for sure, but some credit has to go to the Vikings as well for that first half. The ball movement was really brisk, and the Vikings moved really well off of the ball. And if you're going to shade Jayla Johnson with a guard dropping down halfway, even if you don't outright double-team her, you're opening the door for Emily Czuhajewski and/or Lauren Lee to launch from outside, or for Chantel Hairston to use the available driving lane. The Vikings don't often reap dividends from that advantage to the degree that they did in last night's first half, but that potential's there.

The really gratifying thing to me was that, of that 31-8 second-quarter advantage for North Park, the Vikings outscored Wheaton 11-6 while Jayla Johnson was resting on the bench for almost four minutes.

In the second half Wheaton tightened up the perimeter D while the Vikings stepped back a bit and spaced the floor more, so the open three wasn't there anymore. The other issue was that the Vikings wore down a bit as the fourth quarter progressed; Esther Miller, who continues to be NPU's X-factor, played 38 minutes while Czuhajewski and Hairston played 36 apiece, so the shooting got sloppier.

Kent Madsen and team have a week to prep for Millikin, a team with lots of offense.

Lots of defense, too; the Big Blue is third in the league in turnover margin, first in blocks, and first in steals. MU clearly remains the team to beat this season.

[Gregory Sager]

Aaaaaand now NCC's games against Elmhurst on Saturday as well as against Carroll on Wednesday are postponed.

Yikes!

Sounds like the Cardinals are going to be playing a lot of Monday ball this winter.

[iwu70]

I agree that whichever team can best evade covid issues may come out on top.  Keeping your starters healthy and in play is now a crucial factor for all teams.  Depth and conditioning will surely come into play more.  Seems most teams may be playing a lot of Monday (make-up) games. 

IWU now has 3 games in 5 days -- @Carthage, @Elmhurst, and @North Park . . .  8th - 12th.  A rough stretch. 

Without Annie Tate, I'm not sure Wheaton is a top tier CCIW team. 

For IWU, I think keeping Brook Lansford healthy is key . . . and seeing how far the Titans can ride the play and improvement over the season of the three freshmen:  Huber, Powers, and Palmer.   I'm optimistic about all three.

IWU'70

[GoPerry]

Losing to the Vikings is not surprising per se.  But the way they are losing is concerning.  Without Tate, the Thunder have few other significant offensive options.  Ok fine.

I don't know about that. After watching the game this afternoon, I was enormously impressed by Annika Richardson's performance. She is a very versatile offensive player who can finish with either hand down low and has nice touch on her jumpers all the way out to beyond the arc, and her 6-for-7 tally at the line last night indicated that there's nothing wrong with her form there, just a previous lack of consistent opportunities. I'm not saying that she's going to outperform what Tate would've brought to the table on a night-in, night-out basis, but she's the kind of fill-in that Wheaton is lucky to have. Wheaton fans are going to enjoy having Richardson around for the next 3 1/2 years.

Ellie Cassel is a big who can score down low and who runs the floor well and can get out in transition. Hannah Swider is a pretty decent offensive option. Wheaton doesn't really have a breakout perimeter player who can either create offense off the dribble or knock down treys with impugnity, but Kent Madsen's cupboard certainly isn't bare in terms of offense.

But they have good enough players to play solid team defense and that's not happening.  Giving up 51 pts in a half?

It wasn't a good half for Wheaton's defense, that's for sure, but some credit has to go to the Vikings as well for that first half. The ball movement was really brisk, and the Vikings moved really well off of the ball. And if you're going to shade Jayla Johnson with a guard dropping down halfway, even if you don't outright double-team her, you're opening the door for Emily Czuhajewski and/or Lauren Lee to launch from outside, or for Chantel Hairston to use the available driving lane. The Vikings don't often reap dividends from that advantage to the degree that they did in last night's first half, but that potential's there.

The really gratifying thing to me was that, of that 31-8 second-quarter advantage for North Park, the Vikings outscored Wheaton 11-6 while Jayla Johnson was resting on the bench for almost four minutes.

In the second half Wheaton tightened up the perimeter D while the Vikings stepped back a bit and spaced the floor more, so the open three wasn't there anymore. The other issue was that the Vikings wore down a bit as the fourth quarter progressed; Esther Miller, who continues to be NPU's X-factor, played 38 minutes while Czuhajewski and Hairston played 36 apiece, so the shooting got sloppier.

No, the cupboard is not bare.  Swider has certainly stepped up for scoring load and taking more shots, driving to the basket a little more.  Cassel is capable but really hasn't shown inclination to be a primary scorer.  Richardson has had two great games and if she can become a consistent offensive presence that would be a great help.  On the other hand opponents will likely pay a little more attention to her.

My point was more that four quarters of solid defense is all the more important given Wheaton's difficulty with scoring consistency this season.   Their defense was good for the first ten games but these last two losses, giving up 81 to IWU and 82 on Wed, have been less inspiring.

[RogK]

Half of tomorrow's slate is postponed : Augie @ Carroll along with ELM @ NC.

[iwu70]

It's truly unfortunate, sad how many postponements we're having. 

Looks like IWU at Carthage is on . . .  at least so far.

-5 degrees as I stepped out my door this morning . . . in search of coffee, bacon and a good waffle.  Yikes!  Sure feels different than Hong Kong along the South China Sea.   

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Half of tomorrow's slate is postponed : Augie @ Carroll along with ELM @ NC.

It appears that North Central and Carroll are the two teams having Covid troubles. I say that not to point fingers, just to note that if the problem gets extended further into next week, their games beyond next Wednesday would be in danger as well.

[GoPerry]

Half of tomorrow's slate is postponed : Augie @ Carroll along with ELM @ NC.

It appears that North Central and Carroll are the two teams having Covid troubles. I say that not to point fingers, just to note that if the problem gets extended further into next week, their games beyond next Wednesday would be in danger as well.

What's more is that all students aren't even returning to campus until this weekend.  Or at least this is the case at Wheaton and NCC - classes resume Monday.  So these next two weeks will be dicey to say the least, especially for those teams that have not had many positive tests yet.